This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Escondido, Calif. • A fire intentionally set Thursday to destroy an explosives-filled house in a suburban San Diego neighborhood rapidly consumed the structure without major problems as fire crews and curious onlookers watched.
Authorities said the renter, George Jakubec, an out-of-work software consultant, assembled an astonishing quantity of bomb-making materials that included the kind of chemicals used by suicide bombers.
Jakubec, 54, has pleaded not guilty to charges of making destructive devices and robbing three banks.
Bomb-squad experts determined the residence was too dangerous to go inside, so they drew up plans to burn it down. The home is so cluttered with unstable chemicals that even bomb-disposing robots couldn't be used to enter it.
"They have no idea what is in there. There might be explosives in the walls and under things," said a neighbor Shirley Abernethy, 82. "Some people have crazy minds. You just never know who you are living next to."
Remotely controlled explosive devices ignited the home in Escondido and it quickly became engulfed in flames as thick smoke rose high into the sky, going just as authorities had planned to avoid spreading toxic fumes through the community.
Nearly all of the home was destroyed in about 30 minutes after a delay of nearly an hour as fire officials waited for an inversion layer to clear. The condition could have held the toxic smoke close to the ground.
Crews had built a 16-foot firewall and covered it with fire resistant gel to protect the closest homes. They also closed a portion of a nearby interstate highway.
The chemicals were found after a gardener accidentally set off an explosion at the home by stepping on what authorities believe was a container of hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMDT, which can explode if stepped on.